Chautauqua Poets & Writers

Chautauqua Poets and Writers (CP&W) brings the country’s most respected authors to Southern Oregon’s Rogue Valley, a region far removed from the metropolitan areas of Portland and San Francisco where vibrant literary communities are readily accessible. The series grew from the International Writers gatherings of 1980s and 1990s and the New Chautauqua Lecture Series in the early 2000s. In 2005, Chautauqua Poets & Writers began by bringing Li-Young Lee to Southern Oregon University for a reading and to Ashland High School for a student workshop. Since then, many highly-acclaimed writers have visited. Naomi Shihab Nye came in 2006, and since then CP&W has hosted two writers yearly.